July 3, 2024

northernvicar – April to June 2024

I had a good patch just after Easter and managed to get some train rides in. Dundee was fun! The garden at Wallington National Trust property was beautiful on 11 April, and I had a slow walk round. Another trip to Scotland on 14 April took me over the Forth Bridge again and did some very interesting curves on the West Coast Main Line. The National Trust formal garden at Cragside was lovely a week later, and on 27 April I had a trip to the gardens at Sizergh Castle – an NT property I had never visited. I...
Categories Northumberland/Railway History Comment: 1
July 2, 2024

northernvicar – January to March 2024

I’m coping with chemotherapy, but managing to get out. No churches visited, but you might like these photos. The level crossing gates remain at Thorneyburn station on the Hexham-Riccarton Junction route – the line closed in 1958. Lovely snowdrops at Newbrough church. On Sunday 18 February I was feeling good and it was a lovely day, so I went for a drive up the A68. Bremenium, Old Rochester, is a place I have not been to for years. The Roman fort is very atmospheric. I just had a short walk, but it was lovely. There is a new website...
Categories Northumberland/Railway History/Roman Britain Comments: 0
January 18, 2024

Bewcastle, Cumbria – St Cuthbert (again)

On Tuesday 9 January 2024 we had a hire car sitting on the drive – Bristol Street Motors in Hexham being unable to get the right part to repair ours and Motability having a duty to keep their disabled customer on the road (a duty they have failed to cover in the last four weeks as their “preferred supplier” Europcar just say “we haven’t got an automatic”). Sorry, rant over. Now we have a hire car, let’s get some miles on the clock. As the sun sank slowly in the west we headed towards it, and ended up in...
Categories Cumbria/Roman Britain Comment: 1
January 11, 2024

Barton, Cumbria – St Michael’s (again)

Monday 8 January 2024 and I caught the train to Penrith for a few hours with Clare. We had a leisurely coffee and scone in Pooley Bridge, then drove up the road to St Michael’s church, Barton – and realised I had been here. It was almost a decade ago – https://www.northernvicar.co.uk/2013/12/11/barton-cumbria-st-michael/. I described it last time as “a wonderful, chunky church”. It still is. The porch was built in the C17 by Moses Sisson, although it contains earlier work and a C13 door. The shield of arms above the keystone was placed there for Sir James Lowther in...
Categories Cumbria/World War 1 Comments: 2
January 11, 2024

northernvicar November and December 2023

One of my ambitions in life has been to see the Northern Lights. We should have been in Orkney for the last fortnight, and there have been some lovely photos from there. We have also seen photos from Northumberland over the last few months, but never seen the real thing. This evening the app started flashing red, a high chance of seeing them. So we went on an Aurora hunt. We drove north up the A68, then took the Bellingham road in West Woodside. There is a laybye on the north side of that road, and we could see...
Categories Northumberland/Railway History/Roman Britain/Scotland Comments: 0
November 13, 2023

northernvicar October 2023

I started October with a Curator tour of the Wartime history of the English Heritge house at Belsay. The house was requisitioned at the start of WW2. The then owner, Stephen Middleton, kept a close eye on it, and there are piles of letters of complaint he wrote to the army. At one point he covered everything with coconut matting – you can still see the marks. There are various signs of wartime – names on doors, a loo door which says “night time use only”, graffiti and items found under the floorboard. Julie has been busy stewarding at...
Categories Hadrian's Wall Walk/Personal/Railway History Comments: 2
November 9, 2023

Govan Old Church, Glasgow

Saturday 28 October 2023 was the oipportunity for a trip to Glasgow. Govan Old Stones had tweeted to say they were closing at the end of the month for a winter break, so why not visit now? I went Hexham, Carlisle, then the Glasgow & South Western via Dumfries – a beautiful (if long) ride. Then the Glasgow Subway to Govan. Govan Old Church is just down the road – a road with stunning (and uncared for) Victorian architecture on one side, and a 1960s grotty block on the other. The church itself closed in 2007 and is now...
Categories Scotland Comments: 4
November 9, 2023

northernvicar September 2023

We’re back in Northumberland, and the gardens at Belsay (English Heritage) are looking beautiful. I had a trip on the South Tynedale Railway and a hospital visit to Manchester via Liverpool. At Carlisle I was pleased to see 46115 “Scots Guardsman”, built by the North British Loco Company in Glasgow in 1927. It is the loco which featured in the film “Night Mail”. Beautiful National Trust gardens at Wallington. A trip to George Stephenson’s birthplace at Wylam – a rarely opened National Trust property. A trip to Carlisle, for lunchtime communion and a meet up with Clare. I decided...
Categories Cumbria/National Trust/Northumberland/Railway History Comment: 1
October 9, 2023

Humshaugh, Northumberland – St Peter’s (again)

I blogged St Peter’s in 2010 and 2014, and visited again on Saturday 23 September 2023. In 2014 they were debating moving the church entrance to the side where people come. A decade later they have gone for the cheaper option – a new sign! At the main entrance they have built an excellent ramp, and they leave the door open to welcome. The inside hasn’t changed much – I didn’t photo the food bank box (will we ever be able to stop collecting for food banks?), but it was nice to see tourist leaflets available. The Chancel ceiling...
Categories Northumberland Comments: 0
October 8, 2023

Ryton, Tyne & Wear – Holy Cross

I came to Ryton just a couple of weeks ago to pick up an Argos order from the little branch of Sainsbury’s, but fortunately I checked as the church of Holy Cross which I wanted to visit this Heritage Open Day (17 September 2023) is not the church in the centre of the town. It is down nearer the river at NZ 151648, so I parked on the old village green. Most of the other cars were parked for walking down towards the river and railway. The map marks a Motte nearby – must go and explore properly. The...
Categories Durham Comments: 0